Someone Else's Shoes, Someone Else's Wand
by Lilygloves
Summary: Harry and Neville accidentally switch bodies. Now the Chosen One learns what it's like to be the "Almost Chosen One".
1. The Switch

Harry stared at Hermione, who stared back at Neville.

"Okay," she said slowly, "you're Neville."

Harry felt frustrated that the brightest witch of her age couldn't grasp the idea that he was trying to explain. "No, I'm Harry. I don't know how I ended up in Neville's body."

Ron, who was standing behind Hermione with an even more confused expression on his face, just shook his head. "Weird."

"How did this happen?" Hermione asked in a tone that Harry recognized as her 'trying to be patient' voice.

"I don't know," said Harry honestly. "Neville and I were in the DA Room practicing the Summoning Charm. He was getting pretty good at it, too. We heard something outside the door, and I guess we both panicked. His Summoning Charm went awry and I think he tried to Apparate. I felt myself pulled towards him as he turned on the spot. We bumped heads and I thought we had blacked out, but maybe Apparating doesn't mix well with Accio."

As anxious as Harry was about the situation, he was glad he could go to his friends. They had all had their share of magical mishaps, like when Ron was bit by a baby dragon their first year or when Hermione accidentally turned into a cat their second year. Although Madame Pomfrey had been gracious enough to not ask question in both situations, Harry would always rather get help from his friends before going to anyone from the school. Besides, he wanted to look out for Neville. He had enough criticism to worry about, and Harry didn't want to give any ammunition to the bullies at Hogwarts. He was already hoping that no one had seen them sneak from the Room of Requirement to the Gryffindor Common Room, which was usually empty at this time of the day. Thankfully, they had avoided being noticed by anyone. Harry wasn't keen on Draco Malfoy seeing his current situation. He would laugh himself silly thinking of Harry and Neville Longbottom switching bodies.

Hermione circled Harry in Neville's body, analyzing him up and down. "That's amazing," she said. "I've never heard of a body switching spell. You could probably invent one! Imagine that, a fifth year student at Hogwarts inventing a spell! You'd end up in _Achievements in Charming_ for sure."

Ron put his hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Focus! Our friends have switched bodies. We need to figure out how to fix this." He turned towards Harry. "This is pretty weird, mate. I've never seen Neville look so confident."

"Ronald! Don't be rude!" Hermione scolded, and then dropped her voice, "he's right there." She pointed to a figure huddled in the corner next to the fireplace.

Harry looked where she was pointing, and understood why Ron said this situation was so weird. He could see his body curled up in a ball with a forlorn look that was usually on Neville's face after getting grades back from the teachers- except this time it was on Harry's face. Harry almost felt disgusted to see such an expression of cowardice on his- _Harry James Potter's_ \- face.

The figure by the fireplace gave a sob and said in a small voice, "Can you fix it, Hermione?"

"Being asked to fix your mess, that sounds about right," said Hermione with a hint of pride.

"Hermione, focus!" said Ron and Harry in Neville's body at the same time.

"Right," said Hermione in her business-like voice. "I don't think anyone knows about your little… situation and it's probably best to keep it that way. I'm sure I can find something in my books about how to fix spells of this magnitude. Just keep steady here and I'll figure something out."

"How long do we have to wait for you to find an answer?" said a desperate Neville in Harry's body. "I can't miss class! I'm already behind on a lot and if I don't keep my grades up-"

Harry knew better than to hope that Hermione would recommend skipping class.

"Hmm, you're right," said Hermione thoughtfully. "Do you think you could handle pretending to be each other for a day or two?"

"Days?" exclaimed Neville.

Harry ignored him. "Sure, we can do that. We'll just help teach each other how to act like ourselves."

"I can help with that," said Ron with a smirk. "I can even teach Neville how to do that goofy face you make whenever you see Cho Chang…"

* * *

Harry leaned into his mirror to study his new face. He tried making facial expression that Neville usually made, but it was too hard for him to really capture the nuances of another person.

"Neville? Er, Harry?" Harry saw Ron's reflection in the mirror and turned around. "It's time for class."

"Alright, let's go, Ron," said Harry as he grabbed his bag.

Ron looked down. "Well… Hermione pointed out that I should walk to class with Neville. You know, to make it look like I'm walking with you. So… I'll see you there, mate?"

Harry was sure he finally captured a Neville look because he was sure he looked embarrassed. He could feel his cheeks burn. "Right, sure," he mumbled, turning back towards the mirror. "I'll meet you there." He saw Ron's reflection disappear and heard him leave the room. After a few minutes, Harry decided to join the rest of the Gryffindors in class. He was not looking forward to a school day as Neville Longbottom.

He could feel Snape literally breathing down his neck. Normally the Potions professor was swooping around the room like a bat, but it seemed like he was paying more attention to Harry than usual. Or rather, paying more attention to Neville. It was hard for Harry to concentrate, especially since his pride and the promise of keeping it secret were both keeping him from saying anything un-Neville. Harry's typical sass was harder to control than he realized. He was trying to properly measure his porcupine quills, but Snape's dark eyes seemed fixed on his handiwork, just waiting for him to make a mistake. "Give me a break!" he wanted to yell.

Being Harry, Potions was almost regularly horrible thanks to Snape's intense hatred of him. But this…being Neville? Harry hadn't felt so set up for failure since his first Potions class when Snape bombarded him with questions about the subject that the class wouldn't learn until third year. It didn't help that Harry and Neville had traded wands for the time being to keep their cover. Harry hated having to use someone else's wand. He had to concentrate a lot harder to create any magic, and when he did, the work was not as refined as he was used to.

He looked over at Ron, who was sitting next to the real Neville. They were joking around and actually having fun in Potions class. Harry was sure this was the only time Neville actually smiled during a lesson with Snape. At first he felt a pang of jealousy, but then Harry tried to be happy for Neville. He wanted him to enjoy Neville's freedom from the pressure and opinions of the professors and students. After all, Harry had endured a lot from Voldemort. He could handle keeping his head down for a Potions class.

* * *

Harry hadn't spent this much time apart from Ron at Hogwarts since their row about the Triwizard Tournament their Fourth Year. He was having trouble adjusting to being separated from him during class. Fortunately, Hermione regularly offered whispered hints to Neville, so they agreed it was safe for her to stick with Harry in Neville's body for the time being.

"And what's the answer to number twelve, Mr. Longbottom?" came a sickeningly sweet voice. Harry, who at this point had gotten used to responding to Neville's name, looked up from last night's homework and made eye contact with Professor Umbridge. It was hard to focus on her eyes, since her bright pink dress and ridiculously large bow on her head were incredibly distracting. She was giving him a patronizing look that Harry had only seen during his detentions earlier in the year when she forced him to use a quill that marked in the writer's own blood.

"Er, a grindylow?" he answered, trying to emulate the anxious tone Neville usually used when answering any question in class.

"And what do they usually eat?" asked Umbridge.

"Fish and algae," answered Harry, thanking Hermione for making him read through the entire chapter instead of just skimming through like usual.

"What color are they?" Umbridge drilled, looking at him as if she was hoping for him to slip up. This wasn't even part of the question on their homework.

"Typically green."

"What are they classified as, and why?"

"Dark creatures, because they sometimes eat humans."

"What color are their teeth?"

"Um…" Harry wracked his brain. He didn't remember reading about that in the textbook. He tried to think back to when Lupin had introduced him to the creatures in his Third Year. "Green. They have sharp, green teeth." He gave a sigh of relief.

Umbridge's toad-like smile widened. "How lucky of you to get the right answer on your homework this time, Mr. Longbottom! I won't test your luck."

Harry had always hated her for the ridiculous lies she spewed as prompted by the Ministry of Magic, as well as her own prejudices against certain magical creatures. However, being Neville in class, Harry had a new reason to add to his list to hate her. He had never had a teacher expect him to be such a failure. It was one thing for Snape and Umbridge to bully him; Harry had no problem shooting back a smart response. After all, he was used to taunts from the Dursleys. But it was entirely different to purposefully abuse a student like Neville.

In typical Potter fashion, he had to hold his tongue to keep up the façade and not make a rude retort to Umbridge. Hermione probably sensed how hard this was for him, so she grabbed his hand under the table and squeezed as their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor moved on to asking Parvati the answer to question thirteen.

* * *

Harry swung his leg over the bench at the Gryffindor table, almost hitting his foot against the edge of the seat. He wasn't used to Neville's body yet, even after being him for over 24 hours. Hermione was already there filling her dinner plate, and Ron, followed by Neville in Harry's body, were coming in to join them. They were laughing together, and there as a bounce in Neville's step that Harry had never seen Neville actually do as himself, aside from a particularly good Herbology lesson.

"I'm starving," groaned Ron as he sat down and began to heap mash potatoes onto his plate.

Hermione looked bemused, smiling the way she always did when Ron complained about being hungry. "You always say you're starving," she pointed out.

"Just because I say it all the time doesn't make it any less true," Ron replied before shoveling food into his mouth.

Neville as Harry was still working on filling his goblet with pumpkin juice, but he laughed along with Ron and the others and accidentally spilled a bit of juice in the process. "How was your day Har- Neville? Not too bad I hope," he asked nervously, looking across the table at Harry. It was still clearly a weird experience for both of them to be facing themselves and calling the other their own names. Harry didn't know how to respond. He knew that Neville was probably used to the abuse from his professors, but it had been a new experience for him and didn't want to point it out. It was probably a sensitive subject.

"Er… It was a typical day with Snape and Umbridge," Harry shrugged Neville's shoulders. "So naturally, they invited me to tea and biscuits with them," he answered, and Ron and Hermione laughed at his response. "I'm glad we didn't have Quidditch practice today," Harry added.

Neville nodded. "It would be pretty fun to be on the Quidditch team for a day, but I wouldn't want to ruin your reputation as Hogwarts' best Seeker.

"Today wasn't that bad for me either. It was actually nice to… be someone else for a day," Neville said, and then turned pink and looked down at his plate.

Hermione tried to change the subject. "I'm sure if you did have Quidditch today you'd still be better than Slytherin." Making fun of Slytherin was an easy and popular subject at the Gryffindor table, so they continued laughing for the rest of the night. No one in the small circle of friends laughed harder than Neville.

* * *

Later that night, Ron, Harry, and Neville dragged themselves up to their room in the Gryffindor tower with plenty of yawns. Harry and Neville had to remind themselves to go into the others' bed to avoid suspicion from Dean and Seamus. After half an hour, the five boys in the room were in bed and all but Harry were fast asleep.

Harry was unhappy about still being in this predicament, but the boys had joined Hermione in the library after dinner to try to find a solution but with no results. She had insisted that they finish their homework before helping her, since she was already ahead on her assignments. However, after a few hours of research, they still had no answers how to switch Neville and Harry back into their own bodies.

Harry thought about his day. The professors had such little expectations for Neville after seeing him stumble through his classes for the past four years. But still, Harry reasoned, it's hard for students to really do well without encouragement. He remembered how supportive Remus Lupin had been their Third Year as their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Harry learned how to produce a Patronus, which was hard even for grown-up witches and wizards. The classes had never had such high marks. Neville had faced his fears, and apparently his biggest fear was their very own Professor Snape. Harry had had trouble believing that Neville's greatest fear would be a teacher, especially considering all the dark witches and wizards out there. Harry had been even more puzzled when he learned that Bellatrix Lestrange had tortured Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom into insanity. Now, after experiencing a school day as Neville, he could begin to understand.

"I have a burden because of Lord Voldemort _,"_ Harry thought, "but Neville has his own." Harry sat up in bed and grabbed Neville's wand, turning it over in his hand. He wondered…

"Harry, what's wrong?" Neville had woken up in Harry's bed and sat up, looking over and rubbing his eyes.

"Nothing, Neville," Harry answered quietly. As Neville lay back in bed to fall asleep, Harry made up his mind to try something. "Wait, Neville. I want to try something." Neville sat up and watched Harry expectantly, trying to adjust his eyes in the dark.

Harry held Neville's wand and did the familiar movement with his hand. "Expecto Patronum," he whispered. A silver light burst in the bedroom. It took a moment for the two boys to recognize the shape, but Harry felt excited as he realized it wasn't his normal stag Patronus. It was a different, bigger four-footed animal that paced to and fro in their room. It looked rather shaggy and had a long tail.

"It's a lion, Neville," said Harry quietly. He knew that Neville had never been able to produce a Patronus in their DA meetings, so they were both learning at the same time what his took form as. Harry looked over at Neville and smiled. "You must be the bravest Gryffindor to have a lion as your Patronus."

Neville nodded, but didn't respond. He just kept his eyes on the lion. Harry used the wand to lead it to Neville's bed. He kept it there for a long time until Neville fell asleep with his hand stretched out towards the silver lion.


	2. Epilogue

A few days later…

Professor McGonagall didn't look up from the paperwork on her desk. "What do you need, Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom?"

Out of Neville's mouth came, "Well…we had a bit of a problem. A problem that Hermione couldn't help us fix."

At this point, McGonagall looked up sharply with a serious expression on her face. " _What did you two_ _do_?"


End file.
